Duty-credit scrips / Customs duty calculator
The tariff tables are not present in this build, so the calculator has nothing to work from. Nothing is estimated in their absence.
How the number is built
Give it an HS code, an assessable value and where the goods are coming from, and the panel above works the basic customs duty, the Social Welfare Surcharge, the integrated tax and the compensation cess, showing what each one is charged on. It also shows the part of that bill a duty-credit scrip can discharge, which is smaller than most people expect and is the number worth knowing before you buy one.
Four levies, in a fixed order, each charged on a base that includes the ones before it. That compounding is why a small change in the first line moves the total by more than it looks like it should.
Basic customs duty. Charged on the assessable value at the rate in the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975. The assessable value is not the invoice value: it is cost, insurance and freight, plus landing charges where they apply.
Social Welfare Surcharge. Section 110 of the Finance Act, 2018 levies it at ten per cent of the aggregate of the duties of customs collected under section 12 of the Customs Act, 1962. In practice that is ten per cent of the basic customs duty, so it moves with the first line rather than with the value.
Integrated tax. Section 3(8) of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 charges IGST on the value of the goods plus the duties of customs chargeable on them. So the base is the assessable value plus the basic customs duty plus the surcharge, not the value on its own. On most consignments this is the largest single line on the bill.
Compensation cess. Where the goods attract it, section 3(9) puts it on the same base as the integrated tax.
Why the order matters commercially: because the integrated tax base includes the duty, a preferential rate under a trade agreement does not just cut the first line. It cuts the first line, then the surcharge computed on it, then the tax computed on both. The saving is always larger than the rate difference suggests.
What a duty-credit scrip can pay here, and what it cannot
This is the line that decides whether scrips are worth an importer's attention at all, and it is the line most often glossed over.
Regulation 6(1) of the Electronic Duty Credit Ledger Regulations, 2021 provides that the duty credit in an e-scrip is used for payment of duties of customs specified in the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975. That schedule is the basic customs duty schedule. The ICEGATE e-scrip advisory puts it in plain words: basic customs duty only, and not towards IGST, compensation cess or other taxes.
So on the breakdown above, a RoDTEP or RoSCTL scrip reaches exactly one line. The surcharge, the integrated tax and the cess on the same Bill of Entry are cash, whatever you paid for the scrip. A scrip bought at a discount saves you that discount on the basic customs duty figure, not on the total, and certainly not on landed cost.
The practical consequence: the instrument is powerful for a high basic-duty, high-volume importer and close to pointless for a low basic-duty one. Working that out from your own tariff lines before you start sourcing is a better use of an afternoon than negotiating half a point on price. How the buy side works, and what the instrument is end to end.
What this calculator does not do
A duty figure is only useful if you know what has been left out of it. Four things have been.
- It does not apply an exemption notification. The rate used is the standard rate in the First Schedule. A large share of consignments are assessed lower under a notification, and the gap can be very wide: several lines carry a schedule rate of a hundred per cent against a far lower effective rate. Check your own line before you budget from this.
- It carries no Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess. AIDC is a real levy under section 124 of the Finance Act, 2021 on a defined list of goods. The dataset behind this page repeats the basic customs duty rate in its AIDC column on every record we looked at, which is not an AIDC rate, so there is nothing here we could publish without inventing it. Where your line carries AIDC, the total above is short by that amount.
- It works percentage rates only. Some tariff lines carry a duty stated as an amount per kilogram or per piece. Those are not in the arithmetic.
- It carries no trade remedy duty. Anti-dumping, countervailing and safeguard duties are imposed line by line and country by country by separate notification, and none of them is here.
None of this is legal or classification advice. Classification is the importer's own responsibility, and a wrong tariff line makes every number on this page wrong together.
Common questions
How is customs duty calculated on an import into India?
Basic customs duty is charged on the assessable value, which is cost, insurance and freight plus landing charges where they apply. The Social Welfare Surcharge is then charged at ten per cent of that basic customs duty under section 110 of the Finance Act, 2018. Integrated tax is charged on the assessable value plus the duties of customs on it, because section 3(8) of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 sets that as the base, and compensation cess where it applies uses the same base under section 3(9). Adding the four gives the duty and tax on the Bill of Entry.
Can a RoDTEP or RoSCTL scrip pay the whole customs bill?
No. Regulation 6(1) of the Electronic Duty Credit Ledger Regulations, 2021 provides that the duty credit in an e-scrip is used for payment of duties of customs specified in the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975. That schedule is the basic customs duty schedule, and the ICEGATE e-scrip advisory says in plain words that a scrip cannot be used towards IGST, compensation cess or other taxes. On a typical consignment integrated tax is the largest single line, and it is cash either way.
Is the rate shown here the duty I will actually pay?
It is the standard rate in the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975. A great many consignments are assessed at a lower effective rate under an exemption notification, and this calculator does not apply one. Treat the figure as the schedule rate, then check whether an exemption covers your line before you budget from it.
How does a free trade agreement change the number?
Where a trade agreement covers the tariff line, the preferential rate replaces the basic customs duty rate, and because the surcharge and the integrated tax are both computed on a base that includes basic customs duty, a lower rate pulls all three down together. The preference is not automatic. It applies against a valid certificate of origin, and the Customs (Administration of Rules of Origin under Trade Agreements) Rules, 2020 put the burden of proving origin on the importer.
Why is there no Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess line?
Because the dataset behind this page does not carry a usable one. Its AIDC column repeats the basic customs duty rate on every record we inspected, which is not an AIDC rate, and publishing a figure derived from it would be inventing a number. AIDC is a real levy under section 124 of the Finance Act, 2021 and applies to a defined list of goods, so where your line carries it the total here is short by that amount. We would rather tell you the total is incomplete than quietly make it look complete.
Does this cover duties charged per unit rather than as a percentage?
No. Some tariff lines carry a duty expressed as an amount per kilogram or per piece, and some carry anti-dumping, countervailing or safeguard duties imposed by separate notification. None of those is in this calculation. It works ad valorem rates only.
Where these rates come from, and how far to trust them
The duty rate on each line is the standard rate of duty in the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975. The integrated tax rate is the rate for that line under the CBIC integrated tax rate schedules, and each tariff item page names the notification number the rate is carried under. The Social Welfare Surcharge is levied by section 110 of the Finance Act, 2018, and the bases the other two are charged on come from sections 3(8) and 3(9) of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975. A preferential claim runs under the relevant trade agreement, read with the Customs (Administration of Rules of Origin under Trade Agreements) Rules, 2020.
This is a snapshot. The rates on this site are published as at the date they were extracted. It covers 4 eight digit tariff items across 1 chapters, and lines the source carried no duty and tax rate for are omitted rather than filled in from the heading above them.
Duty rates change by notification, and a notification can take effect the day it is issued. We have not traced each individual line to the notification that set it, and we do not claim to have. Confirm the rate against the tariff in force before you file a Bill of Entry or price a consignment on it. Where a commercial decision turns on a rate, the notification as published governs, not this page.
Browse the tariff
Every tariff item has its own page with the same breakdown worked in full. Browse all 1 chapters, or jump into one:
Pay the basic customs duty line with a scrip, not cash.
Money locked before the scrip moves. Settlement the same business day.